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Catheter-related bloodstream infections cause tens of thousands of deaths each year, and each infection costs tens of thousands of dollars to treat. In an earlier Michigan initiative (JW Gen Med Dec 27 2006) that involved 103 intensive care units (ICUs), rates of these infections were lowered dramatically after systematic implementation of five evidence-based interventions: washing hands, using full barrier precautions, cleaning the skin with chlorhexidine, avoiding the femoral site, and removing unnecessary catheters. Eighteen months after implementation, catheter-related bloodstream infections were reduced by two thirds from baseline. In this follow-up study that involved 90 of the original ICUs, investigators evaluated whether the lower …